TRON: Uprising is an animated science fiction TV series, part of the TRON series which airs on Disney's television channel Disney XD, in the United States. The show premiered on June 7, 2012, and is directed by Charlie Bean, who will also act as executive producer alongside producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.

Contents

“Hidden away inside a computer, exists another world. Its creator designed it for games, but it became so much more. He called it The Grid, a digital utopia filled with infinite possibilities. He built a digital copy of himself named Clu, to create the perfect system. And he relied on the hero, Tron, to keep it free for all programs who lived there. But in his thirst for power, Clu betrayed his creator. Tron fought back, but Clu was too powerful and left him for dead. Clu dispatched his armies and seized absolute control. Now, in a far off corner of the Grid, a young program decides Clu must be stopped. His name is Beck. Could he be the next Tron?”

Plot

Beck is a young program who becomes the skillful leader of a revolution inside the computer world of the Grid. His mission is to free his home and friends from the reign of the villainous Clu and his henchman General Tesler. Beck will be trained by Tron, the greatest warrior the Grid has ever known. Tron will not only teach Beck the fighting and light cycle skills he needs to challenge this brutal military occupation, but he will be a guide and mentor to him as he grows beyond his youthful, impulsive nature into a courageous, powerful, strong leader. Destined to become "the next Tron", Beck adopts Tron's persona and becomes the arch enemy of General Tesler and his oppressive forces.

Beck's night off with his friends is ruined when the Occupation arrests an innocent program falsely accused of being The Renegade. When Zed and Mara are also caught up in the melee, Beck has to make a daring rescue using a new four-seat "light roadster" that was offered as bounty for The Renegade's capture.

Beck must confront his mentor and convince Tron to halt his revenge against a program named Dyson, Tron's former friend and ally, who is now his mortal enemy. Tron's history before the occupation will be revealed, and viewers learn exactly what Clu did to injure Tron and force him into hiding.

The Renegade recruits three fearless supporters who have expressed their commitment to the revolution by tagging the grid with the message that "Tron Lives." After inviting them to join in the resistance, he discovers one of them is his best friend Mara and has to convince them that tagging is not the right path and devise a new plan targeting Tesler's ship.

Tesler uses Scientist Keller's mind-control agent originally designed to liberate programs, to build his army. When Mara falls victim to supporting the Occupation and turns against the Renegade, Zed and the Renegade must form an uneasy alliance to help rescue her.

Beck tries to rescue a fleeing government scientist before Paige and the Occupation finds her; Paige and Beck become passengers on the same runaway train and Beck must save the innocent programs on the train without revealing his identity.

Beck agrees to go on a date with Paige, but their night is cut short when Paige is betrayed by Pavel and thrown into the Games; Beck thinks he may finally be able to win her over by rescuing her as The Renegade.

Tron tells Beck that he is dying and finds out that the only way to stop his illness is to use the Occupation's new super recognizer.

Continuity

TRON: Uprising is set after the events of TRON: Evolution, but before TRON: Legacy. For the purpose of story and character development, which could branch out but not directly conflict with the events portrayed in the movies, video game, or the graphic novel TRON: Betrayal, the series is set in Argon City, located in a part of the Grid far from Tron City.

In this series' timeline, Clu 2 has already taken over the Grid and is asserting his control over more distant areas, including Argon City. The "ISO Wars" is mentioned as being in the recent past, and Kevin Flynn is said to be in hiding.

Tron's Fate

The series builds up on the background story of Tron, particularly his experiences between Evolution and Legacy. An in-game cinematic in Evolution – which was shown as a flashback in Legacy – shows Tron being overwhelmed by Clu and several Black Guards to give Kevin time to flee. It is implied but never explicitly shown that Tron was subdued and injured, then later reprogrammed to become Rinzler.

The series establishes that Tron was indeed injured in the fight with Clu, but was able to escape relatively intact, although weakened and suffering from grievous wounds. He fled to Argon City, later stumbling upon Beck and thus setting the stage for the show. The series still leaves room for Tron to become Rinzler at a later time, before continuing into the events of Legacy.

While in hiding, Tron reverted to an elaborate white-suit/white-circuit design and color scheme reminiscent of his days in the original Grid. In the series pilot, his look switches between this and the look he adapted in the new Grid: An almost completely black suit with very minimal white circuitry (but without the "T" emblem on his chest seen in Evolution and Legacy). The white suit with white circuitry was bequeathed to Beck when Tron started training him to be "the next Tron". Following this, Tron adapted a black-suit/white-circuitry version of his original suit, and uses this mostly while at rest. During field operations, he uses the black suit with minimal white circuitry (with no "T").

Clu's coup, a scene revisited in Legacy and Evolution, was portrayed in Uprising with two major changes: Tron wore his white suit rather than the black one (which itself has more visible circuits in Evolution version of the scene than in Legacy), and at least eight Black Guards attacked Tron rather than the usual team of four shown in previous accounts.

Possible Cancellation

On January 7th 2013, Storyboard artist Eric Canete has confirmed that the show won't be receiving a second season.[1]

Amid rumors of cancellation, on January 14th 2013 producer Edward Kitsis countered the cancel status stating "“I don’t know what the future [of Tron: Uprising] is now. I know at the present, I can say we need more viewers."[2] despite Disney XD rescheduling the show broadcast to Sunday night/Monday AM Midnight with no rebroadcasting, limiting its viewing audience.

On returning from hiatus, Disney XD rescheduled the show for broadcast on Monday nights at 12:00 AM Eastern/11:00 PM Central with no rebroadcasting, and no advertising to indicate the change. Its live viewing audience is limited though DVR performance is strong. Fans have accused Disney of tanking the show on purpose, as a large number of viewers were left unaware that the show had returned due to the lack of advertising and/or unable to watch due to the timeslot.

Such cancellation consideration by Disney is in line with Disney XD stating they are specifically tailoring their broadcasts to the 2 to 14 year old audience, and currently is succeeding in creating and marketing to that specific target demographic of very young children.[3] over their competition such as Nicktoons in this age category.

The show was moved without notice, rebroadcast, or advertising, causing many fans to accuse Disney of forcing the ratings of the show down so it could be canceled.

Release

Critical reception

The series premiere earned mostly positive reviews. It also currently holds a 8.3 rating on TV.com,[4] and 8.0 rating from 1,915 users on IMDb.com.[5] "Beck's Beginning" was given a positive review, with IGN ranking it 8 out of 10.[6]

Awards and Nominations

Award

Category

Recipient

Result

40th Annie Awards

Best Animated Special Production (Episode: Beck's Beginning)

Nominated

Character Design in a Television Production (Episode: The Renegade, Part 1)

Robert Valley

Won

Production Design in a Television Production (Episode: The Stranger)

Alberto Mielgo

Won

Storyboarding in a Television Production (Episode: The Reward)

Kalvin Lee & Robert Valley

Nominated

Music

The series was scored by Joseph Trapanese, who arranged Daft Punk's score for Tron: Legacy. A soundtrack album for the score was released digitally on January 8th, 2013. By its second day, it had become the ninth bestselling soundtrack album on iTunes and the 20th (print-on-demand CD) and fifth (mp3s) on Amazon.

A music video was released for one of the tracks, Lightbike Battle (3OH!3 and JT Remix). It contains scenes from the as-yet-unreleased final two episodes of the show.

The album includes "Rezolution", a mix by 16-year-old DJ Cole Plante, who appeared at the ElecTRONica event at Disney California Adventure as a guest DJ, in order to promote Uprising and his own upcoming album on the Disney-owned record label Hollywood Records.